NC State (5-1) vs. Syracuse (5-2) Game Preview

One Reason Why NC State Will Win

How quickly can the NC State offense pick it back up after the loss to Clemson?

This is when Ryan Finley has to show why he’s an NFL quarterback. Suffer a tough loss, and bounce right back with a big performance.

He’s been wonderful all year – hitting 300 yards on a regular basis and being the catalyst for the one-dimensional Wolfpack offense – but he was harassed by a fired up Clemson defense last week and seemingly never had any downfield throws available to him.

He was able to connect on the short passes to get the ball out of his hands in a hurry, but the Tiger D swarmed from there. Syracuse won’t be able to slow down Finley and the passing game – North Carolina threw for 321 yards in last week’s SU overtime win – and the Pack should be able to push the ball down the field again.

Even after last week’s issue, NC State is still third in the nation and tops in the ACC in third down conversions, but …

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One Reason Why Syracuse Will Win

The Syracuse defense is terrific at coming up with third down stops. This might be a shootout that comes down to one or two key moments when the defense can hold serve, and at home, the Orange might be able to do it.

The D isn’t great lately – it got lit up by Pitt and North Carolina over the last two weeks – but part of the problem has been its issues against good running games. That’s not NC State.

Finley might just go Finley and start bombing away, but the Orange passing game has kicked it in with 200 yards or more in every game but the loss to Pitt – throwing for 195 – and blew up against North Carolina with Eric Dungey and Tommy DeVito combining for over 400 yards.

There might be a bit of a quarterback controversy, but NC State has to prepare for both passers, and there’s a chance the two could rotate in.

DeVito can bomb away, Dungey can run, and the Orange offense should be able to produce no matter who’s under center.